Three Oak Harbor senior football players signed letters of intent Monday, May 3, to play for Menlo College of Atherton, Calif.
Josh Higbee, Derrick Clarit and Rashaad Smith will play wide receiver for Menlo, according to offensive coordinator Adam Hazel.
The trio played both wide receiver and defensive back for Oak Harbor. Hazel said that Menlo’s receiving corps was hit hard by graduation and that the three “very athletic” Wildcats would most “quickly see the field” at receiver.
Higbee, 5-8, 165 pounds, was an all-Wesco wide receiver last fall. He chose Menlo because “the coaches are amazing and I felt a connection with them.”
He added, “The recruited me early and were the most consistent. They are looking for a receiver and that’s a spot where I can fit in.”
Higbee plans on majoring in sports marketing or sports medicine.
Clarit, 5-9, 155, earned all-Wesco honors as a defensive back for Oak Harbor. He said, “I really like playing DB, but I like receiver as well, so I have no problem with playing there.”
He said he wanted to continue playing football and wanted to major in business, so Menlo “is a really a nice fit.”
Menlo is noted for its strong business program.
Higbee and Clarit knew for quite a while they wanted to attend Menlo and pushed Smith to join them.
Smith, 6-4, 185, said “pretty much” when asked if they others persuaded him to attend Menlo. Smith, a three-year starter for the Wildcat basketball team, said he is ready to give up the sport to concentrate on football. He plans on majoring in information management.
Oak Harbor head football coach Jay Turner said, “All three are good kids, good students and good athletes. They all have the assets to be successful at Menlo.”
Hazel said Menlo, which is just north of Palo Alto, first heard about the Oak Harbor trio from Greg and Taylor Barton, who run football camps throughout the West.
Hazel said that Menlo is an NAIA school and the smallest (750 undergraduate students) to have a football team. Forty percent of the students at Menlo are varsity athletes.
Hazel said that because of the high academic standards at Menlo, the team is restricted on the type of students it can recruit and was pleased to have found three that fit academically and athletically from Oak Harbor.
Menlo, whose nickname fittingly for the local trio is the Oaks, played in the Northwest Conference last year, which includes Tacoma schools the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University. The Oaks were 3-3 in league and 4-6 overall in 2009.
Hazel said Menlo is going to play as an independent this fall, but still has the Washington schools on its schedule. The school plans on moving up to Division II soon.
Clarit’s mother, Lori Campbell, summed up the signing as “a sweat ending to a long journey.”
